SESSION WATCH
Died HOUSE · SESSION 2026

No. HB 739

Disability Provisions for Firefighters and Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers
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SPONSOR
Sapp
FILED BY
Judson Sapp — District 20, Republican [search donations]
EFFECTIVE
7/1/2026
DIED IN
Insurance & Banking Subcommittee

Filed under Local Government.

PROVIDED SUMMARY

Disability Provisions for Firefighters and Law Enforcement and Correctional Officers; Provides & revising definitions; provides that previous medical examination revealing no evidence of tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension will satisfy preemployment physical examination requirement.

Full bill text →

Plain English Summary

AI-GENERATED
Extends firefighters' exam-substitute rule to law enforcement officers too.

Firefighters could already use a required medical exam to cover a missed preemployment physical, if it found no tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension. Law enforcement officers now get that same fallback.

The bill also gives 'heart disease' its own legal definition for this disability presumption: an organic, mechanical, or functional problem with the heart, its structures, or the coronary arteries.

Several scattered cross-references -- to the statutes defining correctional officer, correctional probation officer, law enforcement officer, fire service provider, medical specialist, and prescribed course of treatment -- are consolidated into one new definitions list at the top of the section.

None of this changes who already qualifies for the underlying presumption, or what it presumes -- only the definitions behind it, and how someone without a preemployment physical can still qualify.

KEY PROVISIONS
§ 1 Law enforcement officers gain the firefighters' exam-substitute rule majors. 112.18(2)(b)

AIIf a law enforcement officer never had a preemployment physical, their medical exam required under s. 943.13 now counts as satisfying that requirement, as long as it turned up no tuberculosis, heart disease, or hypertension. Firefighters already had this fallback; this bill extends it to law enforcement officers for the first time.

“the medical examination required by s. 943.13 is deemed to satisfy the physical examination requirement under paragraph (a)” bill text, line 63 →
§ 2 New statutory definition of 'heart disease' moderates. 112.18(1)(d)

AIDefines 'heart disease' for purposes of this disability presumption as any organic, mechanical, or functional abnormality of the heart, its structures, or the coronary arteries, giving the term a fixed legal boundary it did not have written into this section before.

“any organic, mechanical, or functional abnormality of the heart, its structures, or the coronary arteries” bill text, line 24 →
§ 3 Consolidates definitions previously scattered by cross-reference technicals. 112.18(1)

AIAdds a single definitions list at the start of the section for correctional officer, correctional probation officer, fire service provider, law enforcement officer, medical specialist, and prescribed course of treatment, replacing repeated inline cross-references to other statutes with one upfront set of terms.

“a physician licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459 who has a board certification in a medical specialty inclusive of care and treatment” bill text, line 29 →
TIMELINE
3/13/2026
Died in Insurance & Banking Subcommittee
1/13/2026
1st Reading (Original Filed Version)
12/16/2025
Now in Insurance & Banking Subcommittee
12/16/2025
Referred to Commerce Committee
12/16/2025
Referred to Insurance & Banking Subcommittee
12/10/2025
Filed
STATUTES IT CHANGES
s. 112.18
+199 / −105